Welcome to Everyday Athlete the podcast for the everyday athlete who wants to train smarter and live to be 100 years old. I am your host, Josh Kennedy. Today, I am talking to Franz Snideman, co-owner of Revolution Fitness in La Jolla, California. Franz is a Senior Strong First Instructor, Primal Move National Instructor, a former collegiate sprinter, a trainer, coach, speaker, and author. Franz is known as the sprinting ninja, and he has dreams of being a superhero.

Franz has been in the fitness industry for 21 years, and he has been a personal trainer since 1996. When he was young, he stumbled onto track and field by accident. He ended up getting a college scholarship for track and field, and he is currently known as a sprinting geek. He and his brother developed Primal Speed which is a synthesis of all of his fitness knowledge put into a system that teaches power training and sprinting. This system is unique because it is geared towards health first and performance second.

Today’s topics include:

How a little bit of long-term power training makes a huge difference in fitness.

Starting with sprinting mechanics. Take the gait cycle up to a march.

Then go to skipping and running in place.

Mechanical efficiency is important in any movement. The higher the foot goes up the more stretch and that is where the power comes from in sprinting.

Start slow and gradually increase.

Move arms explosively from the shoulder independent from your legs.

How Franz could get a 78-year old sprinting in 3 to 6 months.

The excitement of sharing a passion for sprinting.

Flexing your shoulder and powerful arm movements give you some bounce off of the floor.

Developing speed and power before developing endurance. Start short and then work up.

Benefits of sprinting opposed to jogging.

Sprinting can maximize results with a minimal time input.

The hormonal response of using your body explosively. The adrenal and pituitary glands kick in and release hormones that tell the body to adapt.

Sprinting helps the body adapt by losing fat to be faster.

Don’t chase the body you want. Chase the behavior that allows the body to get those adaptations.